Broad prospects for GM agriculture, bold research should be pursued

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that this year's grain output increased by 10.3 billion jin over the previous year. After earlier drought disasters, how did grain achieve an “eleventh consecutive increase”? Why have imports still increased? Will grain production be developed through GM technology? Bi Meijia, Chief Economist and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, answered these hot issues on the 5th at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

“Every year we are on tenterhooks and treading on thin ice over grain production”

Q: Some areas suffered severe drought this year, so why did grain still increase?

Bi Meijia: Although severe summer-autumn drought occurred in parts of the Huang-Huai and Northeast regions, this year's meteorological conditions were generally good, and no large-scale drought or flood disaster occurred nationwide. The largest area of crops affected by drought in summer and autumn this year was more than 70 million mu, 20 million mu less than the same period in the past 5 years.

Liaoning and Henan had relatively severe summer drought, mainly concentrated in the western parts of the two provinces. Liaoning's autumn grain output fell by 8.8 billion jin; in Henan, because the affected areas were not major production areas, irrigation conditions were relatively good, and drought relief was effective, the final reduction was only 800 million jin.

This year the national summer grain harvest was bumper, and the autumn grain harvest was also generally bumper. The bumper autumn grain harvest benefited from an increase of 11.65 million mu in area, especially an increase of 11.37 million mu in the high-yield crop corn. Increased area and structural adjustment added nearly 10 billion jin of grain, offsetting part of the disaster losses. At the same time, areas not affected by disasters clearly increased output. Heilongjiang, the country's largest grain-producing province, increased output by 4.76 billion jin; Anhui, Hunan and other provinces that suffered disasters last year did not reduce output this year, achieving recovery growth.

To speak truthfully, every year we are on tenterhooks and treading on thin ice over grain production, and the string of disaster prevention and reduction is always pulled tight.

“Grain imports will not increase substantially”

Q: In the first 10 months of this year, China's imports of grain and grain flour increased by 46.3% compared with the same period last year. Why increase production while also importing?

Bi Meijia: The central government proposed adhering to the policy of “taking our own as the mainstay, basing ourselves on domestic production, ensuring production capacity, importing appropriately, and supporting with science and technology”; the core is to firmly hold the Chinese people's rice bowl. Proposing the bottom line of ensuring “basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple food rations” is determined by resource endowments, and we must make choices.

In recent years, China's grain imports have increased somewhat, mainly because international grain prices are lower than domestic grain prices. At the same time, in order to meet diverse domestic consumer demand, some varieties also need to be imported for adjustment. At present, imports of the three major grains of rice, wheat and corn account for only 2.4% of domestic output. In the future, some varieties in short supply domestically may still need to be imported appropriately, but grain imports will not increase substantially.

China will not purchase too much grain on the international market. China has 260 million farming households. Even if the urbanization level rises in the future, only some farmers will move to cities, and a considerable proportion of farmers will still rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Therefore, grain imports also involve the issue of balancing farmers' employment and income growth.

“Ensure that agricultural GM research and development is carried out in accordance with the law and in an orderly manner”

Q: Will grain production be developed through GM technology in the future?

Bi Meijia: The Ministry of Agriculture's attitude toward the GM issue is to be bold in research and persist in independent innovation; to be cautious in promotion and ensure safety. GM is a new technology with broad development prospects. Developed countries are now going all out to seize the technological high ground, and developing countries should also actively follow up.

China is a major agricultural production country and a major consumer of agricultural products, with many people, little land and scarce water, and frequent droughts, floods and pests and diseases, so there is great pressure to ensure the long-term effective supply of grain and other major agricultural products. In 2008, the State Council approved the establishment of a major GM special project. So far, the only GM crops approved for planting in China are cotton and papaya, and no commercial production of any GM staple grain has been approved.

In the future we will first develop non-food cash crops, then feed crops and processing raw material crops, then general food crops, and only lastly staple grain crops. In this process, the Ministry of Agriculture will certainly perform its duties in accordance with the law and ensure safety.

For illegal and irregular agricultural GM trials and production, the Ministry of Agriculture will, whenever one is found, resolutely investigate and deal with it in accordance with the law, ensuring that China's agricultural GM research and development work is carried out in accordance with the law and in an orderly manner.